Our Association was one of the signers of a July 11, 2013, letter to Dr. Beth Unger of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and others, including the clinicians involved in the CDC’s multi-site research study, urging the CDC to include certain objective tests in their studies of ME/CFS patients.  The tests recommended are: Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET), specifically the two-day CPET regimen known as the Stevens Protocol, and lab tests which measure Natural Killer Cell function and viral load, including enteroviruses.
 
For more background, links to the letters sent to the government officials and the clinicians, as well as a sample letter requesting the same that you can send yourself, see the excellent article CDC Study Must Include CPET, NK Cell and Viral Testing, Advocates Insist, by Mark Berry on Phoenix Rising.